


seeing you everywhere

by cinderrain



Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bookstore, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Daycare, Alternate Universe - Flower Shop & Tattoo Parlor, Alternate Universe - Met via Online Rpg, M/M, multiple AUs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-30
Updated: 2015-12-30
Packaged: 2018-05-10 12:54:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5586217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinderrain/pseuds/cinderrain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For scaluwag on Tumblr for the DGM Secret Santa! A bunch of AUs squished into one fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	seeing you everywhere

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: the author has no experience with college, flower shops, tattoo parlors, sprained thumbs, online rpgs, or shady bookstores that may or may not have an eldritch horror in the basement. (Though I'd like to think that no one else does for that last one, either.) 
> 
> Also, in case of confusion: the fic goes college AU/other AU/college AU/etc. None of the AUs are connected to each other, or have any kind of continuity, except the college one.

Lavi thinks it really shouldn’t have taken him this long.

To realize that he’s got it bad for his roommate, that is. Not that he was expecting to crush on Kanda Yuu, or that he thinks he should have expected it, because obviously if he was _trying_ to pretend to crush on Kanda and then by some tragic twist of fate ended up actually falling for him, he’d have seen it much sooner. Obviously.

But he’s supposed to be observant, so even if he wasn’t expecting it it shouldn’t have taken him four months into the year to recognize the symptoms for what they are. Weird warm tight feeling in his chest every time Kanda even so much as acknowledges his existence - check. Making excuses to find out more about Kanda, and trying to spend more time around him - check. Basically thinking about his roommate fifty minutes out of every hour, _check_.

Checkmate, more like, because Lavi’s certain Kanda has zero affections for him.

\--

Kanda keeps bringing flowers to the guy who works next door.

The flowers part isn’t what’s bothering him - he owns a flower shop, what else is he supposed to bring? Car parts? It’s not the guy-next-door part either - if the idiot wants to run a tattoo parlour here, he can damn well go ahead and do that. 

No, it’s the way mister Lavi Won’t-Give-A-Last-Name seems so weirdly happy every time Kanda comes over. It’s just flowers. It’s leftover flowers, on top of that, and maybe Kanda spends a _little_ time every day after closing time arranging them before going over, but that doesn’t give Lavi the right to make his whole face light up like it’s Christmas and there are twice as many presents under the tree as he’d expected. His smile is too bright. His eye is too bright, despite him only having one of them. Kanda should file a complaint about light pollution.  

He doesn’t. Instead, he keeps going over, and he keeps bringing flowers. 

On one such day, Lavi calls him over before Kanda does his usual “stomping out because I don’t even know why I’m here, fuck you” routine, and gets him to sit down. 

“What are you doing?” Kanda lets the suspicion drip into his voice, and considers telling Lavi he has a very very pressing appointment at this time, and also that he won’t be by tomorrow because of Circumstances. He doesn’t, though, because he always says that (the second part) and Lavi never believes him because he keeps coming by anyway, and he’s curious to find out why Lavi asked him to sit down.

(Also, Lavi’s hands are cold and gentle as they take one of his arms and slowly rolls up the sleeve. And he’s still doing the light-pollution smile.)

“What do you _think_ , Yuu? Relax, I’m not going to straight-up tattoo you in front of your face without your permission. That... wouldn’t really work out, and it’s rude as all hell, yeah?”

Kanda has to grudgingly agree. He watches as Lavi takes a pen and sketches out patterns up his arm, around the place where the bone juts out a little at his wrist, and winding back down to wrap around his fingers, following the lines of his hand bones.

“Just wanted to see what it would look like,” Lavi explains, his voice quieter because he’s concentrating, and Kanda is frozen in place because then Lavi traces his fingertips up along one of the patterns. The light touches stop at his elbow, and then Lavi’s eye follows his fingers up to meet Kanda’s.

“It’s nice,” Kanda manages, but somehow he’s certain Lavi knows he’s not just talking about the designs.

\--

Kanda thinks that it really happened too fast.

It hadn’t been more than three days into the school year when he realized that he’d been doing some comparing since the first time he laid eyes on Lavi. His first thought was: damn, that hair is an obnoxious colour. When Lavi greeted him with a wide smile and a sparkling eye Kanda’s second thought came wandering along, and it was that Alma made the same expression when they first met. His third, and fourth, and fifth thoughts were along the same lines - Alma called him Yuu, too; Alma wouldn’t have closed up like that when Kanda asked a personal question; Alma was just as persistent as Lavi in getting Kanda to notice him instead of ignoring him.

If he hadn’t been making comparisons - unfair ones, if he’s being honest, because neither of them deserves to be compared to the other - he thinks he may have gotten through his first year of college just fine. Avoided his room and roommate like he’d been planning to, focused on his studies, and refused to acknowledge the fact that there’s supposed to be a social aspect to school.

But when he looks at Lavi he sees Alma, and that’s where the whole problem starts.

\--

The other guy who works at this daycare is grumpy and antisocial, and scowls more than he talks, but somehow it’s still an even split between the kids when it comes to the question of whether they like Lavi more or Kanda. Lavi supposes that Kanda’s less intimidating to the shy kids, which sounds counterintuitive because Kanda’s glare is the most intimidating thing on the world, but Lavi’s noticed he never really gets mad at the kids. Only ever at Lavi, if he’s being honest, because openly glowering at their manager doesn’t get anyone anywhere.

Lavi’s tried to make nice, though. He is definitely not at fault for the weird sort-of animosity that hangs between them at work, because all he’s ever done is extend olive branches. Well, okay, so maybe sometimes the olive branches are hurled, and sometimes they’re actually rose-bush branches that have thorns on - like all the surprise hugs, and the calling Kanda over to join him and the more excitable kids in an activity he knows Kanda won’t like - but it still counts as making nice if Lavi’s got a grin on the whole time.

One day one of the kids falls down and wrenches a thumb. Lavi’s over immediately when he hears the crying, but the little boy won’t let him see it, so he can’t tell how bad it is or what he can do about it. He’s left just calming the kid down as best as he can, trying to think of some way to let the kid check his injury, when Kanda notices the situation and goes over.

Now, Lavi’s been trying all the things he can think of - “Can I see it? I promise I can help it stop hurting.” All the usual platitudes he knows aren’t working.

Kanda kneels down and goes, gruffly, “Give me your hand.” And a beat later, when the kid shakes his head no: “Don’t be stupid. If it hurts sitting on it isn’t going to help.”

And it works. Kanda’s holding the limb in question, supporting the elbow and wrist while the rest of the hand rests on his knee. Lavi sits there wide-eyed.

“Well?” Kanda’s looking at him expectantly. “I’m not the one who memorized the first-aid booklet. You tell me what this is.”

“It’s swelling up a bit - definitely not broken, but maybe sprained.” Lavi gets up. “I’ll go grab some ice.”

“Get him some candy too,” Kanda calls after him, and ruffles the kid’s hair a little bit.

They make a surprisingly good team, and when they hand the kid over to his parents he isn’t crying anymore. Lavi turns to Kanda with a grin slightly toned down from his usual. “Hey, you want to go out for coffee after?”

\--

The issue with noticing is that now he has to decide whether he wants to do something about it or just wallow in denial. Both options sound equally unappealing at the moment. Maybe if he just... accepted it, but also ignored it? He tries this strategy for another few months.

The trouble is that he’s _living with_ Kanda, so it’s not at all possible to try avoiding him without Kanda immediately picking up that something’s wrong. Kanda’s more observant than anyone gives him credit for.

If he doesn’t avoid Kanda, though, the problem would only increase. Almost half of his daily routine is based on excuses to spend more time with Kanda, half-lies: “I prefer working in our room, the library has too many other people in it,” “Hey, you want to eat with us? I hear Lenalee knew you when you were kids, she wants to catch up,” “I had free space in my schedule, so I figured I’d take some classes I haven’t considered before - is botany fun?”

He glances guiltily up from his laptop screen as Kanda settles in opposite him, on his own bed with a textbook resting on his knees, and scours his brain desperately for some reason he could give to avoid Kanda for the next little while - at least until he sorts his thoughts out.

Well, finals week is coming up.

\--

Kanda always plays a warrior-type, because he likes having the excuse to barrel through everything and not have to pay any attention to his teammates. Lavi first met him while he was playing a cleric, though nowadays they have more of an established team and Allen’s taken over that spot now. Lenalee plays rogue most of the time, so that leaves Lavi to trying out all the different types of mages.

Lavi had once mentioned offhand that he usually just sets the character creation on random and plays whatever he gets, and Kanda had been confused and frustrated (to Lavi’s delight).

“Don’t you have a playing style?” pops up in the chatbox, and Lavi types a shrug.

When they finally get around to meeting in person, Lavi is struck by how much Kanda resembles the characters he tends to play. (Not just the attractiveness, though that’s a factor Lavi will... consider later.) He’s all one-word responses, quiet courtesy, grumpy rudeness, and dark muted colours.

After remarking on how tiny Allen is in person, Kanda turns to Lavi and raises an eyebrow. “ _You_ , on the other hand - you’re pretty much how I imagined. A fucking incohesive mess all over. Did you set _yourself_ on random?”

Kanda’s smirk gets a critical hit on Lavi’s defenses. _Wow_ , he thinks, messing up Allen’s hair to distract from the way the tips of his ears are turning red, _look at those hitpoints drain._

\--

It’s maybe about five months in that Kanda realizes he’s stopped comparing Lavi to Alma. Instead, Lavi’s settled down with tent poles and all and claimed his own spot in Kanda’s mind, sharing it about 50/50, whereas before everything just reminded him of Alma.

Now, whenever he thinks about how much he hates the way Lavi has fits of insomnia but still admonishes Kanda when he catches his roommate staying up late studying, or when he thinks about how much he ~~loves~~ has gotten used to seeing Lavi’s grin bright and early, every morning - a thought about Alma only sometimes follows directly after. One day Kanda catches himself thinking _of course he’s having that disgustingly sugary cereal for dinner_ with a surprising fondness that isn’t at all attached to Alma.

“I’m screwed,” he mutters under his breath.

“Hm?” Lavi goes, from behind a mouthful of said cereal.

“Nothing.”

\--

Kanda hasn’t been having a good day. He was late for work, and then he missed his bus, and he skipped breakfast and lunch to talk to a client who didn’t even end up hiring him, and on top of all that the day isn’t even over yet. He storms into a little coffee shop sometime in the afternoon, hoping that something strongly caffeinated will help - if not his mood, then at least his capacity to stay upright and moving.

There’s a line. A really long line. His phone’s dead, too, so he can’t even check his email in the time he’s waiting.

By the time a bright-eyed redhead who talks too fast and smiles too wide starts taking his order, Kanda has a grand total of zero “dealing with people or life in general” energy points left. He has to take a breath or two before he speaks just so he isn’t gritting out his order from between clenched teeth.

“I’m sorry, we just ran out.” The smile turns into a sympathetic frown. “Did you want anything else, or -”

“No.” It comes out a bit louder and much ruder than he’d intended, and now he’s mentally kicking himself for looking like an asshole in front of a bunch of people. But instead of taking offense, the guy just leans forward over the counter and grabs Kanda’s sleeve to keep him from leaving.

“You look awful. No offense.” He keeps his voice low, so only Kanda can hear. “Are you getting on the next bus?” Kanda nods. “It won’t come for a while - have a seat somewhere and I’ll get back to you.” Kanda frowns, not sure what this guy could do about anything or why he’s even offering. “It’s cold outside.” Kanda’s presented with a sheepish half-smile, and for some reason he finds himself agreeing.

A few minutes later the redhead slides into the seat opposite him and slides a warm paper cup into Kanda’s hands.

“Hot chocolate. I bought it for you, so you don’t gotta pay,” he adds hastily. “I, uh. My name’s Lavi.”

\--

Kanda notices that Lavi’s been really busy lately. It’s his own damn fault for taking all those extracurriculars and thinking he can handle them all, of course, but Kanda still can’t help ~~worrying~~ being bothered by it. He doesn’t think Lavi’s been getting enough sleep, for one - has he been pulling all-nighters? He prints out an entire essay every two to three hours, how much work does he even have to do? Kanda hasn’t been nearly as unreasonable, of course, so he can’t say for sure whether Lavi’s sleeping or not, but he what he knows is that Lavi looks like death and hasn’t been eating anything except granola bars.

“You look awful,” he says, off-hand. Lavi makes a noise that means “I’m working, shush.” Kanda doesn’t try to bring it up again, because he thinks if he talks too much he’ll end up saying something he doesn’t mean to let slip.

He hasn’t had a full-length conversation with his roommate in more than a week, and Kanda hates to admit it but he sort of misses the constant stream of cheery semi-educational babble.

\--

It’s been about a week since Kanda moved to this town, and he has nothing better to do so he visits the little bookstore down the street. It has sort of a suspicious feel to it, and none of his neighbors will acknowledge its existence, but Kanda’s a little curious and so he goes.

Undeniably the brightest thing inside is the flaming red hair of the bookshop’s owner. The lights are dim for a place that sells books, and there aren’t any other customers inside. The man doesn’t look surprised when Kanda comes in, though, just slips a finger in his book and extends a hand.

Kanda shakes it warily. “Hi.”

“Hello! I’m Lavi, nice to meet you.” Lavi blinks, for a moment seeming unsure of where he is or what he’s supposed to be doing. “Oh!” Kanda thinks he hears a mumbled “right, bookstore this month” and doesn’t ask. “Feel free to look around.”

Kanda goes to wander around, and comes back a few minutes later holding a dusty gray tome with no title on the cover. Nothing at all on the cover, actually. “This one won’t open.”

Lavi drops his grin for a second. “What do you mean it won’t open? That’s ridiculous, it’s a book, that’s what books do. They open and then you read them.”

“Well this one isn’t opening.” Kanda has the vague suspicion that most of Lavi’s customers get overwhelmed by the amount of words being flung at them at a high velocity and just give up and put whatever oddity it is back on the shelf. (Kanda’s also discovered, so far: an entire section made up of false books - as in, wooden books that are part of the shelf; five identical rats sitting perfectly still on top of one shelf, blinking red eyes down at him; and for whatever reason a black candle sitting unlit in the middle of an aisle.) Lavi seems to have run out of script for this situation, so Kanda keeps pressing. “Can I buy it anyway?”

Lavi lets him buy the book, and Kanda comes back the next day. And the next. Lavi keeps getting progressively more and more uncomfortable.

Well, this is at least entertaining, Kanda supposes. He just has to be careful not to agitate the growing pile of potentially-dark-magic things he’s accumulating.

\--

Lavi passes out on top of his laptop keyboard the evening after finals are over.

He’d actually finished all of his actual work early, but he still hadn’t been ready to talk to Kanda yet, so he took on a bunch of extra credit assignments. And then he’d gotten really into them, and forgot to - well, eat or sleep. He should’ve seen it coming; he did it once in high school too.

What he doesn’t see coming is what happens after.

He wakes up a day later, feeling a good amount better. Kanda isn’t in the room, thankfully, but someone’s put him in his own bed and left a few handfuls of his favourite cereal wrapped in a napkin. A juice box and a sandwich sit on a plate next to it.

He’s just finishing up the juice box and contemplating how to avoid Kanda now that he doesn’t have the excuse of work when his roommate walks in. He tries not to freeze visibly, but he chokes on his juice anyway. Kanda sits down on his bed, facing Lavi. He has his Serious Face on. Lavi puts down the juice box and stares back, wondering if it would be weird if he just sort of up and bolted.

Yes. Yes, it would be weird.

“You’re an idiot,” Kanda starts.

“Okay,” Lavi goes.

There’s silence for a few moments. Kanda keeps opening his mouth and then closing it again, and looks very frustrated.

“Is that all, or?” Lavi ventures.

Kanda sighs violently, stands up, and kisses Lavi.

Oh, okay. That solves a lot of Lavi’s problems, actually.


End file.
